Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-02-26
now TO BEAD RAPIDLY.
q Rnt bow do you read 50 rapidl,

WltEOut tHinhlnB Ol II.
How To READ RAPIDLY.
" But how do you read so rapidlv?'
Il acquire the subject matter" said MIR.
Spofford Il pick out the meat-the pith. l
pay no attention to the yerbiase. | scarcely
see the words and never note the form Of
sentences. j have learned by long prac-
tice, and having a natural tendency for it,
to get the information without the rhetoric.
In this way the thought is got at glance. 1t
is not the words you want. When your
time is all too short for your work you
can't afford TO waste it on words. In read
ing there is SO much that is of no use to
you-a worthless lot of verbiage By
practice you can avoid all this. Nearly all
books or papers are taken up mostly with
rhetoric, and have the fact and substance
slowed away in very small space If YOU
only know how to find it. l seldom spend
more than half an hour, and never more
than an hour and half in the reading-or
reconnaissance of the largest volume For
instance, take this and he took up
volume from the shelf. No" looking at
the title, "this is hardly the proper book to
illustrate it with. This is Carlyle; he
has to be read, every word. He is one
of the few authors who can Hot be read as
| have described. You mist read every
word. end well it pays you for he time.
But it is only such rugged and extraordi-
nary writer that it is necessary to read that
way. ALI those thousands OF books, with
smooth, easy running sentences, they are
all alike, and you don't want To waste time
on the language; you want TO seize on to
the soul and devour il in an instant. Like
this now," and he reached another book
mot Carlylel, and went down the pages
one after another, as an expert accountant
would 90 down a column of figures. NO
thing there | want; nor there nor there"
Then occasionally striking something to
the point and getting the thought in an in
stant. He went over probably fifteen or
twenty pages in this way, IN length of
time hardly worth reckoning, and without
even making break in the conversation.
THOUGHTS, AND NOT WORDS.
Many people" Mr. SpoGoFd went on,
have the time-wasting babi, of prcnounc-
ing every word in their mind and noticing
every pause and punctuation as they 90
along, as if reading aloud. All these words
and sentences, with the capitalization and
punctuation-the commas, the colons. the
semi-cOlons, the periods and the para
graphs-are only the signs to be followed
but not to be recorded in the mind. The
mind must take note of the thought only.
Many readers, perhaps most readers, chuck
their heads up with commas ana colons
instead of thoughts
Can you estimate how many books YOU
have read ?' asked the Star.
"Oh, | could not begin to make an esti-
mate. That is, of the books have read in
this way. As to reading, as | would read
Carlyle, they are paratively few. There
are hundreds Of young ladies in Washing
ton who have read more books than have.
books every week. 90 not begin TO read
the number of books they DO. | don't see
how they get through them.'
KEEPING TRACK OF 100000 BOOKS.
1t is said, suggested the reporter. that
yon know every book in the library?"
e" In general way, know where 10 find
every book, its size and general appearance
and its subject matter. | could not tell YOU
the contents of the books, bat merely what
they are about. There are some 600.0OO
volumes. arranged in forty-four snbdivi-
sions, which are again subdivided | have
the library arranged according to what |
conceived to be the common sense plan.
The books are arranged alphabetically by
subject. The fiction only by authors. You
are now in the alcove containing biogra-
phies of Englishmen. The alcoyes are ar
ranged alphabetically By subjects, and the
books within arranged in their alphaheti-
cal order. Forssinstauce. take Cromwell;
all the biographies OF Cromwell are to-
gether, and next is another "C,n progress
lively. Suppose some one wants certain
work on finance. / know ii is in that al
cove up Il ere. ] know what book it is. by
association, and Just where il is. But that
alcoye is oYerilowed, and the books are all
piled up on the floors and along there in
front. Suppose they ask for q book of
comparatively recent date. | know it is
not on the shelves. because they were filed
long before its publication. SO it must be
in that pile somewhere know the size
of the book and its appearance can re-
cognize it, for it passed through my hands
TO get into the library. For The sttwenty
years every book that has come into the
library has gone through my bands. and
remember it. In general way know the
size and appearance, and about what ia in
it. Any one of them you mention 1 will
ii and what il is like. II is all
working of the mind by association
FINDING QUOTATIONS. By EXAMINATIONS.
" How about finding quotations? p asked
Il e reporter.
Well, if a member wants 10 use n quo
tation that is not in Familiar Quotetioas.
and is from q poet who has 10 concord
anu 1utuS, tDctdDCt. nave
no concordance he wants to know
the exact words and where its comes from,
he will probably come to me. He will
likely remember in q general way what it
is-a few Of the wOrds-or what il is about,
and the meter. / may be able to tell byits
sound who the author is, and | can form
an idea anyhow as to the period it belongs
TO- Then discard all poems OF an earlier
or later period. then 1 discard all authors
know could rot have written it, and then
discard all poems again of different
meter and ali upon subjects wherein The
quotation could not oceur In this way j
narrow my field OF research, and then /
generally have Etiie difficulty IN finding
what want
1t is the same principle throughout
discard what You don't want"
Aren't you always thinking of books ?"
asked the reporter. Can You ever get
your mind off them?"
Ny wife tells me that sometimes, not
often, | talk of books i'll my sleep-never
of anything ese-but | never think of
books after I leave here. cut myself
loose entirely, leaving the library behind"
~,